Army: Recruiter’s marriage was already under investigation

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Army recruiter found dead with a Rockville High school student in an apparent murder-suicide was already under investigation for his marriage to a 21-year-old former recruit, an Army spokesperson says.

Staff Sgt. Adam Anthony Arndt’s wife, Kaitlyn Schum Arndt, had enlisted at the Gaithersburg office where Ardnt worked, says Kathleen Welker, public affairs officer for the Army. The marriage wasn’t known to military authorities until that time.

The pair married last June.

Recruiters are barred from having any personal relationships with recruits or “future soldiers,” Welker says.

The investigation is ongoing.

EARLIER: Thursday – 4/11/2013, 2:25pm ET

WASHINGTON – Investigators are reaching out to young women who might have interacted with Army Staff Sgt. Adam Anthony Arndt.

“One of the possibilities they’re looking at is what other type of contact Arndt had with other young men or women who were in the process of entering the Army Reserves,” says Capt. Paul Starks with the Montgomery County Police Department.

Officials say Rockville High School has been cooperative with the ongoing investigation, but could not say if investigators will look into other schools.

“It certainly remains a possibility,” Starks says.

EARLIER: Thursday – 4/11/2013, 10:36am ET

WASHINGTON – The Army’s criminal investigations unit is conducting a joint investigation with Montgomery County police into an incident in which authorities say an Army recruiter shot and killed a 17-year-old high school student.

In addition, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Army Recruiting Command in Kentucky says an internal investigation has been initiated to look at Staff Sgt. Adam Anthony Arndt’s relationships within the unit.

“We just want to be sure everything was on the up and up, or if there were some signs that we missed, that we can do something better,” spokeswoman Kathleen Welker says.

Editor’s note: An earlier version of this story said the Army’s criminal investigations probe into the incident is separate from the police investigation. A spokesman for U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command says it is a joint investigation.

EARLIER: Wednesday – 4/10/2013, 6:46am ET

WASHINGTON – A U.S. Army recruiter who police say shot and killed a 17-year-old Rockville High School student before killing himself was married to another Army recruit who enlisted at the center where he worked.

Montgomery County police say they believe 31-year-old Staff Sgt. Adam Anthony Arndt shot Michelle Miller and fatally shot himself inside his Pinnacle Drive home in Germantown, Md. Their bodies were found Monday morning.

The victims knew each other because of Miller’s plans to enlist in the Army Reserve following graduation from high school. Police say Arndt processed new recruits into the reserve and was assigned to coordinate Miller’s entry.

Family members and friends say Miller and the staff sergeant were romantically linked. Miller’s father, Kevin Miller, has said his daughter was a “little smitten with this guy.”

The Washington Post reports that Arndt was married to a 21-year-old woman named Kaitlyn who enlisted in the Army at a recruiting center in Gaithersburg where Arndt worked. The Post says Army officials did not know if Arndt had recruited his wife into the Army.

Police tell WTOP a goodbye text message was sent from Miller’s phone to a friend whose identity has not been released. Police do not know exactly when the text message was sent.

Kevin Miller told police his daughter left their Rockville home about 9:15 p.m. Sunday, telling him she needed to be with someone who was suicidal.

He said he asked her to text him the address where she would be when she arrived. Kevin Miller said his daughter texted some vague information about the location, then stopped replying.

After she stopped responding, he said he frantically searched for his daughter.

Kevin Miller called police and Monday morning, after getting more information from one of Michelle Miller’s friends, went to the home where his daughter was found dead.

Arndt, a 9-year veteran who had served overseas in Korea, Germany and Turkey, was a native of Manitowoc, Wisc. He was deployed to Turkey from September 2009 to September 2010. Since January 2011, he had been detailed to a recruiting office in Columbia. His duties included visiting schools.

WTOP has learned that Arndt didn’t have any blemishes on his service record. He had recieved numerous medals, including the Army Good Conduct medal, three times. He had also received the Army Achievement medal three times, as well as numerous commendations for his service at home and overseas.

Army recruiters are barred from having personal relationships with recruits.

Miller, an honors student at Rockville High School, had been looking forward to joining the Reserves after graduation, say those who knew her.

In a letter sent home to parents Monday, school officials say Miller was an athlete on the varsity lacrosse team and an honors/AP student.

The letter read in part:

It is with sadness that I inform you of the death of Michelle Miller, one of our 12th-grade students. We do not have information concerning the circumstances of Michelle’s passing, as details have not been released to us by the police or family.